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Indianapolis leaders propose tech to keep nonviolent offenders out of jail

New tool to keep nonviolent offenders out of jail in Marion County, Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — City leaders are proposing a million-dollar tool to identify nonviolent offenders with addictions, mental health issues or both who cycle through the judicial system.

The Indianapolis Public Safety Committee on Wednesday approved Proposal 67. High Utilizers of Multiple Systems, or HUMS, will help provide more targeted services for nonviolent offenders to seek treatment and help decrease the incarceration rate. The Indianapolis Criminal Justice Reform Task Force with the mayor’s office believes HUMS will help nonviolent offenders seek sustainable treatment rather than repeatedly get locked up or sent to emergency rooms.

“A lot of the nonviolent individuals who are suffering from mental illness and addiction that we see cycling through our jail, we also see them cycling over and over again in our emergency rooms,” said Tim Moriarty, Mayor Joe Hogsett’s counsel and the chairman of the Criminal Justice Reform Task Force. “We’d like to intervene early to stop that cycle from and get them into better care, better treatment.”

It’s still uncertain if HUMS will be a mobile app or a computer software, but it will use data from the Indianapolis Metro Police Department, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, behavioral health services and more sources to help identify people with an addiction or mental health issues.

“Whether it’s a firefighter, whether it’s a police officer, whether it’s an EMT (emergency medical technician), whether it’s a social worker,” Moriarty said, “to have as much information as we can get them about what’s going on in the life of the individual that they’re interacting with.”

The Assessment and Intervention Treatment Center is under construction on the southwest side to help. It’s expected to be completed in the fall.

“It really is the place where nonviolent offenders suffering from mental illness and/or addiction can potentially be diverted to get into treatment so we end that cycle of rotating through the jail,” Moriarty said.

The development of HUMS will start in April and be completed in October if the Indianapolis City-County Council votes in favor of Proposal 67.

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